Bailar Conjugation 101: Conjugate Bailar In Spanish

Bailar is a regular -AR verb in Spanish. Since it’s a simple verb which can help you practice this conjugation type, in this guide, we’ll review all of the bailar conjugation patterns you need to learn and become fluent in modern Spanish. Here is a summary of what we’ll cover: 

Overview of Bailar

Verb CharacteristicProperty
Verb Type-AR
IrregularNo
InfinitiveBailar
Gerund (Present Participle) FormBailando
Past Participle FormBailado
SynonymsDanzar, moverse.

Indicative Conjugations of Bailar

Present tense

The present forms of bailar are used to say that a person dances or describes how someone performs this activity. For example: Mis amigas bailan muy bien. 

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoBailoI dance
BailasYou dance
Él / Ella
Usted
BailaHe/She dances
You (formal) dance
NosotrosBailamosWe dance
VosotrosBailáisYou dance
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
BailanThey dance
You (plural) dance

Preterite tense

Use bailar preterite conjugations to mention that someone danced. You can add adverbs of time to your sentence to pinpoint exactly when someone did this activity. For example: Theo bailó conmigo en la fiesta. 

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoBailéI danced
BailasteYou danced
Él / Ella
Usted
BailóHe/She danced
You (formal) danced
NosotrosBailamosWe danced
VosotrosBailasteisYou danced
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
BailaronThey danced
You (plural) danced

Imperfect tense

When conjugated to the past imperfect tense in Spanish, this verb is used to say that a person used to dance for an extended period of time. These forms also allow you to describe how well someone used to do this activity. For instance: Mi papá nunca bailaba en las fiestas. 

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoBailabaI danced
I used to dance
BailabasYou danced
You used to dance
Él / Ella
Usted
BailabaHe/She danced
He/She used to dance

You (formal) danced
You (formal) used to dance
NosotrosBailábamosWe danced
We used to dance
VosotrosBailabaisYou danced
You used to dance
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
BailabanThey danced
They used to dance

You (plural) danced
You (plural) used to dance

Near future

The Spanish immediate or near future of this verb is built with the formula ir (present tense) + bailar. These conjugations express that someone will dance soon in the future. ¡Ándale! ¡Vamos a bailar!

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoVoy a bailarI’m going to dance
Vas a bailarYou’re going to dance
Él / Ella
Usted
Va a bailarHe/She is going to dance
You (formal) are going to dance
NosotrosVamos a bailarWe’re going to dance
VosotrosVais a bailarYou’re going to dance
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
Van a bailarThey’re going to dance
You (plural) are going to dance

Future simple tense

Conjugate bailar to the future simple tense to say that someone will dance at some moment in the future. For instance: ¿Con quién bailarán esta noche?

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoBailaréI will dance
BailarásYou will dance
Él / Ella
Usted
BailaráHe/She will dance
You (formal) will dance
NosotrosBailaremosWe will dance
VosotrosBailaréisYou (formal) will dance
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
BailaránThey will dance
You (plural) will dance

Conditional tense

Bailar’s conditional conjugations allow you to express that a person would dance. You can use these forms to ask someone politely to dance with you. ¿Bailarías conmigo?

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoBailaríaI would dance
BailaríasYou would dance
Él / Ella
Usted
BailaríaHe/She would dance
You (formal) would dance
NosotrosBailaríamosWe would dance
VosotrosBailaríaisYou would dance
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
BailaríanThey would dance
You (plural) would dance

Present perfect tense

The Spanish present perfect of bailar is formed with haber (present tense) + bailado (past participle). Use these conjugations to talk about whether a person has danced or not. For example: ¿Con quién has bailado?

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoHe bailadoI have danced
Has bailadoYou have danced
Él / Ella
Usted
Ha bailadoHe/She has danced
You (formal) have danced
NosotrosHemos bailadoWe have danced
VosotrosHabéis bailadoYou have danced
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
Han bailadoThey have danced
You (plural) have danced

Past perfect

Bailar past perfect tense conjugations are used to communicate that someone had or hadn’t danced before another past action or reference point. For instance: Cuando llegué, Sabina ya había bailado con Humberto. 

To conjugate to the past perfect tense, use the structure haber (imperfect form) + bailado (bailar in the past participle form).

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoHabía bailadoI had danced
Habías bailadoYou had danced
Él / Ella
Usted
Había bailadoHe/She had danced
You (formal) had danced
NosotrosHabíamos bailadoWe had danced
VosotrosHabíais bailadoYou had danced
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
Habían bailadoThey had danced
You (plural) had danced

Future perfect

Conjugate this verb to future perfect tense to communicate that someone will have danced by or before a point in the future. These conjugations also express that someone might have danced. For instance: Cuando llegamos, ya habrán bailado su canción de bodas. 

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoHabré bailadoI will have danced
Habrás bailadoYou will have danced
Él / Ella
Usted
Habrá bailadoHe/She will have danced
You (formal) will have danced
NosotrosHabremos bailadoWe will have danced
VosotrosHabréis bailadoYou will have danced
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
Habrán bailadoThey will have danced
You (plural) will have danced

Conditional perfect

Use bailar in the conditional perfect tense to explain that someone would have danced if a past circumstance occurred. Si me lo hubieras pedido, habría bailado contigo toda la noche. 

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoHabría bailadoI would have danced
Habrías bailadoYou would have danced
Él / Ella
Usted
Habría bailadoHe/She would have danced
You (formal) would have danced
NosotrosHabríamos bailadoWe would have danced
VosotrosHabríais bailadoYou would have danced
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
Habrían bailadoThey would have danced
You (plural) would have danced

Progressive tenses

Use estar’s conjugations + bailando (present participle form) to form the progressive tenses in Spanish. These conjugations of bailar emphasize that someone is dancing at the moment of speaking. For example: ¿Con quién está bailando Samantha? 

Progressive TenseFormulaTranslation Example
PresentEstar (present) + bailandoI am dancing
PreteriteEstar (preterite) + bailandoYou were dancing
ImperfectEstar (imperfect) + bailandoHe was dancing
FutureEstar (future) + bailandoWe will be dancing
ConditionalEstar (conditional) + bailandoThey would be dancing

Bailar Subjunctive Conjugations

The subjunctive mood in Spanish allows you to talk about someone’s hopes, demands, recommendations, expectations, and doubts or to refer to hypothetical situations. In the sections below, you’ll find the bailar conjugation charts for the key subjunctive tenses. 

Present subjunctive

The present subjunctive conjugations of bailar are used to wish, suggest, or ask a person to dance with someone. For example: Espero que Sharon baile conmigo. 

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoBaileI dance
BailesYou dance
Él / Ella
Usted
BaileHe/She dance
You (formal) dance
NosotrosBailemosWe dance
VosotrosBailéisYou dance
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
BailenThey dance
You (plural) dance

Present perfect subjunctive

Haber (present subjunctive) + bailado is used to conjugate the present perfect subjunctive in Spanish. In this tense, this verb expresses uncertainty or refers to wishes about whether a person has danced with someone.

For example: No sé con quien haya bailado, pero conmigo no fue.

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoHaya bailadoI have danced
Hayas bailadoYou have danced
Él / Ella
Usted
Haya bailadoHe/She has danced
You (formal) have danced
NosotrosHayamos bailadoWe have danced
VosotrosHayáis bailadoYou have danced
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
Hayan bailadoThey have danced
You (plural) have danced

Imperfect subjunctive

The imperfect subjunctive forms of bailar refers to past demands, suggestions, or expectations you had about someone dancing. For instance: Te dije que no bailaras con ese chico. 

Depending on the Spanish dialect you learn, the imperfect subjunctive has two conjugation models: 

Latin American Spanish version

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoBailaraI danced
BailarasYou danced
Él / Ella
Usted
BailaraHe/She danced
You (formal) danced
NosotrosBailáramosWe danced
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
BailaranThey danced
You (plural) danced

Note: Since vosotros is not used in Latin American Spanish, the bailar conjugation chart above doesn’t include this conjugation. 

Castilian Spanish version

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoBailaseI danced
BailasesYou danced
Él / Ella
Usted
BailaseHe/She danced
You (formal) danced
NosotrosBailásemosWe danced
VosotrosBailaseisYou danced
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
BailasenThey danced
You (plural) danced

Past perfect subjunctive

Bailar conjugated to the past perfect subjunctive tense expresses that someone would have danced if a past condition took place. This tense also allows you to show regret for dancing or not dancing with someone. For example: Ojalá hubiéramos bailado. 

PersonConjugationTranslation
YoHubiera bailadoI had danced
Hubieras bailadoYou had danced
Él / Ella
Usted
Hubiera bailadoHe/She had danced
You (formal) had danced
NosotrosHubiéramos bailadoWe had danced
VosotrosHubierais bailadoYou had danced
Ellos / Ellas
Ustedes
Hubieran bailadoThey had danced
You (plural) had danced

Bailar Imperative Conjugations

To give commands in Spanish, use a verb’s imperative forms. Affirmative commands allow you to order people to do something, whereas the negative imperative is used to tell people not to do something. 

Affirmative commands

Use the affirmative imperative forms of bailar to order someone to dance. For instance: Baila con tu primo, no seas grosera. 

PersonConjugationTranslation
BailaDance
UstedBaileDance
VosotrosBailadDance
UstedesBailenDance

Negative commands

To order someone not to dance, conjugate bailar to the negative imperative. For example: ¡No bailes con esa chica!

PersonConjugationTranslation
No bailesDon’t dance
UstedNo baileDon’t dance
VosotrosNo bailéisDon’t dance
UstedesNo bailenDon’t dance

Meanings of Bailar & Examples

In the sections above, we just learned how to conjugate bailar in Spanish. Now, let’s review how to use this verb correctly. 

[Bailar conjugated] + [complement]

¿Vas a bailar con mi hermana?
Are you going to dance with my sister?

Tanya y su novio bailaron toda la noche. 
Tanya and her boyfriend danced all night. 

Take Note: Use the preposition con and prepositional pronouns to mention with whom someone is dancing. 

Download Bailar Conjugation Charts & Uses Cheat sheets

I’ve created a Bailar cheat sheets PDF you can download for free which includes all of the bailar conjugation charts as well as its definition and uses so you can study this verb and related resources at your own pace.

Practice Quiz: Bailar Conjugation

Now that you can conjugate bailar, you can practice your skills with regular -AR verbs by taking the bailar conjugation practice quiz.

Daniela Sanchez

¡Hola! Soy Daniela Sanchez, I've been studying Spanish professionally as well as teaching it in Mexico and online for over 10 years. I’ve taught Spanish to a wide array of foreigners from many backgrounds. Over the years, I've made it my mission to work hard on refining many challenging to understand grammar topics to make my students' learning experiences easier, faster and more enjoyable. Read More About Me

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